Dipping corals?

[FireWater]

I always dip new corals before going into the tank, but I just throw some Lugols into the bag and let it sit while acclimating. Lately I am having a problem with just my zoas- they are closing up, some are melting, and some others are closed and brown. I have checked params and all are unchanged - nitrate <10, salinity 1.024, temp constant 80, ph a little low at 8.0. I have stared at the tank for hours on end day and night and have not found any critters or inhabitants of the tank that are messing with the zoas so I am guessing a fungus. It is just the zoas - all other coral are fine and healthy. I am preparing to pull all zoas out and dip in Lugols again, but my question is should I let them sit in still water or keep a maxi-jet circulating the water? Also, what if any side effects if I up the dose by half?

[apedroza]

Are there white bumbps on the zoas??? If so there is a zoas pox that spread through the colonies that seems to only affect zoas and not palys. I have seen this in some of my colonies and I'v noticed that lugols and fresh water dipping don't help much. Half the colony eventually dies off and whats left usually rebounds quickly. This does spread quickly and infect other zoas so I would isolate and quarantine. I have also heard of a treatment for this pox with furan II.

[FireWater]

Thanks for the reply Anthony, I checked for the white bumps and other lesions and found none. I have no clue what happened, but know it happened fast. I just got done dipping all zoa colonies (counted 23) and will see what happens from here. I have had some polyps and small colonies disappear before just not as many as this at one time. Plus, I have not added any new additions in the last few months.

[Pickled Fish]

What kind of clean up crew do u have? Do you monitor your tank at night? Sorry for the nub questions, don't mean to insult u, just trying to rule out some potentials.

kurt

[FireWater]

No insult taken. Yes, I do monitor my tank at night and have not seen any of my clean-up critters bugging the polyps. I have mixed hermits, nerite snails, porcelan crab and an emerald crab- none of which have touched anything they were'nt supposed to in the time they have been in the tank. I have looked for worms, sundial snails, lesions, pox, and everything that I can think of. This is why I think it may be a fungus of some kind. Anyone that has seen my tank knows how I love my zoas and palys and this is frustrating the heck out of me. I am stuck at work until tomorrow so I do not know if the dip stopped the damage or if more are gone by now. Anyone else have any ideas?

[Bill S]

Didn't someone post a similar problem with their zoas just a couple of weeks ago?

[MissT]

I know you said you looked well, but I would double check for:


Sometimes they are really hard to see because they can be tiny and will plow through a colony of zoas pretty quickly. That would be my #1 concern but you should see them drop off in an iodine dip.

[twychopen]

I was having the same problem with my zoas a few weeks ago. I did the lugols dip about 40 drops for 1 gallon for 15 minutes. A few days later they were all opened up again! Try it.

[FireWater]

I actually had real good luck with furan2. I did a process of 5 dips over a week and a half. I believe that I got a hold of some type of fungus due to being too lazy with quarantine and dipping/treating new zoas prior to going into the tank. I have not had any difficulties since this outbreak.

On a side note - kuddos for using the search function and digging this old thread up.